At one point during this past camping trip, we found ourselves in the back of a safari truck at Busch Gardens, riding through the animal habitats. A friendly guide named Victoria pointed out the animals to us, and quizzed us about things that we knew.

The boys were in their element. They know all sorts of unusual facts about rhinos and giraffes and elephants. There were about ten other people in the truck with us, but none were even trying to answer. That left the boys to compete with each other.

“Who knows what makes a giraffe’s tongue purple?” Victoria asked.

My youngest son’s hand shot up before she finished the question.

She looked at him, but before she could call on him or point, he used his raised hand to straighten his hair and slowly lowered it to his side.

“So smooth!” Victoria said. She turned to the rest of the crowd. “Did you see that? Smooth!”

My son smiled nervously.

“So,” she asked. “Do you know what makes a giraffe’s tongue purple?”

He shook his head.

It was a pretty good try, though.